So far Nuniz. We learn something more from other writers. Barros states that about the year 1523 Saluva Timma, the king's minister, invaded the mainlands near Goa, which had been recently acquired by the Portuguese under Ruy de Mello; that he advanced towards Ponda with a small force, but that he was attacked and driven back.[253] Shortly after this, viz., in April 1524, the Muhammadans of Bijapur attacked these same mainlands with success, during the viceroyalty of Dom Duarte de Menezes. On October 31 of that year the Chamber of Goa wrote a report to the king of Portugal in which occurs the following passage: —
"The mainland which Ruy de Mello, who was captain of this city, conquered, was entered by the Moors, who used to possess it, in the month of April of five hundred and twenty-four, and they hold it as theirs, and the first Thanadar's district which they took was that of Perna, which is by the seaside. There they captured two Portuguese, and one of them was the Thanadar; these are prisoners in the fortress of Bylgan (Belgaum), of which the Suffilarim is captain."[254]
It is evident, therefore, that "the Moors" were successful, and yet it is curious that very little mention is made of this circumstance by other historians. Firishtah does not mention it; and it may therefore be reasonably inferred that the "Moors" in question were not the royal troops acting under the orders of the Sultan, but belonged to the local levies of Asada Khan, then chief of Belgaum.
According to Firishtah, the defeat at Raichur was followed by Ismail Adil Shah's marrying his sister to Burhan Nizam Shah of Ahmadnagar; quarrelling and fighting with him (A.D. 1523); again fighting with him (1528); marrying another sister to Ala-ud-Din Ummad of Birar; and fighting with and entirely defeating Sultan Amir Barid of Bidar, then an old man, whom he captured. On the death of Krishna Deva, Ismail took advantage of the confusion of the Hindus to retake possession of Mudkal and Raichur.
Firishtah gives no dates for the two last of the event above noted, but the submission of Amir Barid to the Adil Shah apparently did not take place till 1529, for Barros[255] implies that it occurred after an event which cannot have happened earlier than 1529 — namely, an attack on Ponda by three Hindu chiefs, which led to the inhabitants appealing for help to the then governor of Goa, Nuno da Cunha. Da Cunha was not governor till 1529. "AT THIS TIME," writes the historian, "Melique Verido[256] submitted to the Hidalchan, by advice of Madre Maluco and Cota Maluco, and came to his camp in poor clothes, and flung himself at his feet." This evidently refers to what occurred after the Barid's capture by the Adil Shah, if Firishtah's story is true.[257]
Let it be remembered, though the fact has no bearing on the history of Vijayanagar at this date, that in 1526 the Emperor Babar captured Delhi, and established himself as the first monarch of the great Moghul dynasty. He was succeeded in 1530 by Humayun, and on the latter's death in 1556 the great Akbar attained the throne.
CHAPTER 12
The Buildings, Works, and Inscriptions of Krishna Deva
Temples — Irrigation works — Statue of Narasimha — Kamalapuram —
Inscriptions.
Were it not that the description given us by Nuniz and Paes of the condition of the great city of Vijayanagar at this period is so graphic, so picturesque, and so detailed as positively to require no addition, I should have deemed it my duty to attempt to supply the want; but with their narrative before us in all its original freshness, it would be useless to attempt anything further. Both of these writers were on the spot at the time of the city's greatest grandeur and prosperity, though in the time of Nuniz the period of its political decay had set in. With their descriptions I shall not venture to interfere.